Vulcanizing material and apparatus



Oct. 27 1925. 1,558,792

R. H. CHURCHILL VULCAN I Z I NG MATERIAL AND APPARATUS Filed llarch 19. 1923 I MS www.

227/ i www o lill NITED STATES RALPH H. CHURCHILL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

VULGANIZING MATERIAL AND APPARATS Application filed March 19, 1923.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, RALPH rl. @HURGH- iLL, a citizen of the United Sta-tes, residing in the city of Chica-go, county of Cook, and the State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Vulcanizing Material and Apparatus, of which the following is a specilication, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof.

rlhis invention relates to portable vulcanizing apparatus, particularly designed for mending automobile tires and the like, and its purpose is to provide a heat-producing fuel in combination with means arranged to transmit the heat at a moderate rate and throughout a sutliciently long interval to avoid over-heating or burning the material to be vulcanized while insuring a sufficient temperature for the best results.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, showing the apparatus and fuel embodying this invention applied to the operation of vulcanizing a patch on a tire tube.

Figure 2 is a transverse section of the fuel-holding cup taken as indicated at line, 2 2, on Figure l.

Figure 3 is an elevation of a tamping tool.

Figure 4l; is a detail of the tamping tool blade.

It is my experience that with many portable vuloanizing outfits now in use in which the fuel is supplied in a dry compressed block and is burned in a thin metal pan which comes in direct contact with the patch, the temperature produced is necessarily kept too low because the heat is transmitted so quickly from the fuel through the thin pan, with the result that the patching rubber is not properly cooked and is not firmly united to the rubber of the punctured tube. In common with such devices I provide a clamp, l, having a plate or table, 2, upon which the portion of the tube, 3, to be mended lies, and provided with a clamp screw, 4, arranged to be adjusted toward and from the plate, Q. But, instead of employing a thin metal pan, I provide a metallic cup, 5, which is relatively thick and thus provides a considerable mass of metal for initially absorbing heat from the fuel and gradually transmitting it to the patching rubber which is to be vulcanized.

Serial No. 626,008.

Instead of the usual grade of patching rubber provided in portable outiits, I prefer to use a patch, 6. of fairly rawrubber which is substantially the same grade as would be used in a stationary steam-heated vulcanizing outlit. In the process of applying the patch, after carefully cleaning the surface of the tube` 3, with sandpaper or other abrasive means and thus slightly roughening this surface, I not only press the patch, G, onto the roughened surface of the tube, 3, but insure good contact and the elimination of air bubbles by the use of a tamping tool,` '7, such as that shown in Figures 3 and 'l, having a iattened blade, S, whose edge, 9, is not sharp enough to cut through the patch, but is narrow enough to serve for pressing small areas of the patch in close contact with the tube surface- The result is illustrated iu exaggerated fashion in the sectional portion of Figure 1, at which the under surface of the patch and the under surface of the tube are shown as irregularly corrugated.

The fuel cup, 5, being relatively thick and heavy, is stiff enough so that its bottom will transmit pressure from the clamp screw, fl, over the entire area of the patch without the necessity of any supplemental pressure member being interposed between the screw and the cup. The screw impinges, as shown, directly against the bottom of the cup, 5.

By experiment, I have found that a very satisfactory fuel for this purpose consists of a fine granulaizmixture of sulphur, pulverized aluminum and very finely powdered metallic lead which is known commercially as atomized lead. This mixture is .not readily inflammable and may be safely carried ina can or bottle. I designed the cup, 5, with its edges or flanges, 10, of such height that when the cup is just level full of my pulverized fuel mixture, the quantity of fuel is sufficient to provide the proper amount of heat for completely vulcanizing a. patch of an area approximately equal to that of the area of the bottom of the cup, 5. rIhis charge of fuel is easily ignited by placing the head of a burning match directly into the fuel, whereupon the sulphur will catch lire and will at once ignite the pow dered aluminum, the latter burning with an intense heat and the combustion spreading rapidly throughout the charge. The heat generated by the burning of the aluminum Llll ,is properly absorbed at once by the thiek metal Cup, o, and is partly utilized to melt the powdered lead which may be observed accumulating' in globules upon the bottom ol? the cup, After the fuel has burned itself out, this .melted lead gradually Cools, giving up most ol its heat to the cup, which in turn gradually transmits the heat to the patch rubber, f5, Ylor vuleanizing it securely to the tube, lhis transmission oif heat is designed to occupy a period of ahout twelve minutes which is the approved time observed in vuleanizing with steamdie-ated apparatus, so that the result in every way equivalent to that obtained with the present stationary devices employing steam. 'lily outlit, luiwever. has the adrantage of eheapne:m and portability. making it suitable lor roadside roj'iairs whith can he made hy a novwe as sueeessl'fully :as by an expert.

ils usual in such devices, the under suril'aee oli the Cup, 5, is madeeoneave, as indieated at ll, so as to torni the patch with a thin edge and insure pleut)Y ol" pressure at the edge during the vuhraiiizing process. Preferably as shown, the cup, 5, may he pro vided with a bail or handle, l2, by which it may be lifted eren while the cup portion is still quite hot.

l have lound by experiment that the most satisfactory 'luel mixture consists oll the 'liol lowing prol'iortions of the elements by weight: 2 ,parts olisiillpluu; l part ot alui'uinum; l part o't lead.

l. lu ruleanizing apparatus, a iluel adapted to generate intense heat mixed with linely divided metallic material adapted to be melted by surh heat and to radiate the heat gradually as it solidilies.

Q. In vuleanizing apparatus, a fuel. eomprising a granular mixture of pulverized aluminum, linely divided lead and sulphur.

2l. ln Vnleanizing apparatus, a ,tuel Comprising a granular mixture `of pulverized aluminum and finely divided metallic material intermingled therewith in suliieient Quantity to retard combustion ot' the aluminuin.

4l. A vuleanizing fuel which includes a readily ignitahle element, an inflammable element whieh tends to burn rapidly at a high temperature and a finely divided element distributed throughout the infiamiuable material and inter-mingled therewith adapted to be liquelied by the temperature olf combustion and thus serving to store heat and to radiate said heat gradually as it solidilies.

5. lfnA 'mleanizing apparatus, the combination oi? a fuel which is normally quielr burning at a high temperature combined with a blanlteting material inter-mingled with the 'luel and adapted to retard combustion, said material also serving to absorb the heat ol eomhustion and to radiate it gradually to the material to be vulcanized; and a thick walled Container for the liuel which shields the rubber from the high temperature of combustion by absorbing heat and radiating it gradually.

(3. ln vuleanizing apparatus a relatively thielt niietallie cup and a fuel t'o be burned therein including finely divided metallic lead which is liquelied during eombustiou olf the Alfuel and thus serves to store heat and to radiate suoh heat gradually to and through the cup as the lead eools and solidilies.

7. il fuel `for use in vuleanizing appaia tus comprising a granular mixture oli pulverized aluminum, finely powdered lead and sulphur in the infoportion by weight ot' one part aluminum, one part lead and two parts sulphur.

ln testimony whereof, l have hereunto set my hand at Chicago, Illinois, this 16th day of March, A. D., 1923.

RALPH l-I. CHURCHILL. 

